The present invention relates to an improved method and apparatus for the slicing of vegetables, and more particularly is related to the slicing of potatoes for production of French fried potatoes.
The high speed production of elongated vegetable slices such as French fried potato slices has been accomplished by a wide variety of devices such as motor driven circular slicers, grids of tensioned wires, and the like. An especially advantageous apparatus and method for slicing such elongated slices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,109,468 and 3,116,772 to Lamb et al., which were respectively issued Nov. 5, 1963 and Jan. 7, 1964. These patents disclose a grid of staggered blades through which oriented potatoes are forced at a high speed.
Each of the prior art processes has been more or less effective in producing French fries which have a pleasing appearance characterized by a uniformity of cross-sectional dimensions among all the French fries produced. While this uniformity of size may be visually pleasing, it does not insure that such fries will have other uniform characteristics after processing. Because potatoes do not have a uniform composition throughout their entire volume, fries of several different compositions will be cut from each potato. The characteristics of each blanched and cooked fry at least partially depends on the fry's composition; so cooked, uniformly shaped fries from a single potato can vary widely. For instance, an optimally cooked batch of uniformly shaped fries is a compromised mixture which includes both overcooked and undercooked fries.